Vancouver Trauma Therapy and Counselling

 Trauma and Trauma Recovery

CounsellingBC.com professionals in Vancouver and throughout BC who address issues with trauma and trauma recovery may be found in the Trauma Counselling page in the Counselling Directory.

What is trauma and what defines it?
Trauma contains three elements in common::
1. The event is unexpected
2. The person is unprepared 
3. There is no way the person can prevent the event from happening

Most importantly, it is the person's experience of the event that determines whether it will be traumatic for that person.

Symptoms of emotional trauma can include the following:
Emotional numbing
Anxiety 
Panic attacks 
Depression
Fearfulness 
Compulsive and obsessive behaviors 
Feelings of loss of control 
Irritability, angry and resentment 
Withdrawal from normal routine and relationships 
Significant changes in eating habits
Sleep disturbances 
Sexual dysfunction 
Reduced Energy 
Chronic non-malignant pain 
Memory lapses, especially about the trauma 
Difficulty making decisions 
Decreased ability to concentrate 
Easily distracted

Reactions to a very significant trauma can include:
Intrusive thoughts 
Flashbacks
Nightmares 
Emotional flooding
Emotional numbing and avoidance
Amnesia 
Avoidance of situations that reminds individual of the trauma
Feeling of detachment 
Depression 
Guilt feelings 
Grief reactions 
An altered sense of time 
Hyper-vigilance, always feeling "on guard" 
Overreactions to minor events 
Obsessions with death

Effects
Trauma can affect an individual's life in many ways. Traumatized individuals may abuse substances, have frequent feelings of hopelessness or shame, and engage in self-destructive behaviour. There are several other effects that may follow a significant trauma or series of traumas. Many of these symptoms impair relationships.

Treatments:

If symptoms do not go away over time there are several therapies that may be beneficial. These include:

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) which involve learning to change an individual's thoughts and actions as well as gradually reducing reactivity to the trauma
Relaxation/stress reduction techniques
Talk therapies to address feelings about the trauma
Hypnosis
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprogramming) 
Other body centred approaches.

You will want to speak with your physician if you have any of these symptoms. If counselling is recommended you find help for trauma from these counsellors and psychologists.

 

 

 

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